The worst part is that eventhouvh economists recognize that what they do is not a science and that most of the time they are wrong. Their true honest intellectuals are honestly convinced that they are right and that the problem is not enough fiscal deficit spending. Oh and they call me a brilliant mind with "novel ideas" when I challenge them in their own turf. But they d9nt have time to give them a try ansd see the falacy in their models and understanding. It seems that the only way to challenge them would be to do a PhD in finance and prove them wrong. I dont know that there iss enough time. At the same time I dont know that there isnt...

Engineer #3 (me) agrees with engineer #2's disagreement about engineer #1's post. We are seeing an orchestrated collapse. A poorly ocrchestrated one, but orchestrated nonetheless. You're either in their club or you aint. If you in, you better have some damn good doublespeak and be able to doublethink like a champ.

Something else very satisfying to make yourself. It's easy to do especially with a bread machine and it's not very expensive. The smell of freshly baked bread is fantastic. I have a loaf of honey oatmeal whole wheat just finishing up and the aroma has filled the house.

Bread is a big part of why there are so many fat people in the US. Maybe yours is slightly more healthy than most but im sure it still has a relatively large amount of fat and some type of sweetener in it.

"America has a rare second chance to stem the tide of tyrannical oppression which is sweeping this country.Every American needs to become a citizen journalist through the upcoming summer. Each American needs to become responsible for spreading the truth about the criminals who have hijacked our government. I am not seeking a revolution against the United States government, I am seeking to drive the criminalsfrom power who have hijacked our government.These criminals are destroying this country through abuse of power, malfeasance of office, treason against the Constitution of the United States, fraud, theft and ultimately murder. They need to be brought to justice at all costs. Obama and Clinton need to be tried for first degree murder for the planned death of Chris Stevens.

Testimony of government whistle-blowers has established the fact that there was plenty of opportunity for the Obama administration to save the life of Ambassador Stevens and his security detail. However, the Communist News Network (CNN)as well as ABC, NBC and CBS refuse to provide any meaningful coverage of the C-Span televised congressional hearings. However, the truth is out there on Youtube and all through the internet. I don’t care if the MSM refuses to cover the first degree murder of Chris Stevens carried out at the behest of key members of the Obama administration. We, the general public can take this information and disseminate it to a dozen colleagues, friends and family members because the present congress will not act.

The Memory of Chris Stevens Cries Out for Justice

Chris Stevens and his security team need not have died in vain. The circumstances surrounding his death give freedom-loving Americans the chance to expose elements of the NWO to the unaware public. Over the next week to 10 days, we are going to see a multitude of evidence which shows the following facts:

·We now know that Hillary Clinton suddenly resigned as the Secretary of State but not before it was established that three times Stevens requested an increase in his security detail and three times, Clinton refused to honor the request, thus leaving Stevens exposed. With all the money that this administration wastes and with the billions of dollars of fraud connected to the bailouts as perpetrated by this administration, are we really supposed to believe that Clinton could not assign a dozen more marines to protect the ambassador? It is clear that Clinton, on behalf of the Obama Administration want ed Stevens dead because he was the link between the administration and gun running to al Qaeda. Can you imagine the fall out when al Qaeda takes down an American airliner with one of the 20,000 stinger missiles that we let “fall” into al Qaeda’s hand in Libya.

·We know that in defiance of Obama’s orders, Admiral Gayoutte and General Hamm attempted to launch a rescue mission to the save the life of Chris Stevens. They were promptly arrested, relieved of their command and being held in undisclosed locations and the Ambassador’s last hope to stay alive was squashed. These two men are heroes.

·We now know that David Patreaus did not resign from his role as CIA Director because of an extra-marital affair. He resigned because as CIA Director because Congress could have compelled his testimony. As a private citizen, he could invoke the Fifth Amendment and claim the right to avoid self-incrimination. This is critical to understand because it is now clear that Stevens was providing guns, for the CIA, to al Qaeda to aid in the proxy invasion of Libya and now in Syria.Stevens had to be silenced as this administration could not be seen as complicit with the alleged planners of 9/11. As CIA Director, Patreaus was caught in the middle. It is also appears likely that Patreaus was not on board with the Obama’s assassination of Stevens and could not be counted on to take a bullet for the administration. Congress should have interviewed him six months ago. I pray for Patraeus’ safety. Given Hillary’s penchant for being followed by a trail of dead bodies (see Part one), his life is in grave danger.

·We now know that Clinton resigned as Secretary of State because like Patreaus, her testimony cannot be compelled, in opposition to her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

·We now know that that there was a well-armed rendition (torture) camp less than a mile from the compound where Stevens and his security team were murdered at the behest of Obama.They could have rescued the Ambassador.

·We now know from the Hicks testimony, that there were weaponized drones flying overhead which could have stopped the attack on the compound. This means that there were three separate ways that Stevens could have been saved and Obama’s Murder Inc. blocked all three potential rescue attempts

·We now know, and the media cover-up is out in the open, that the media are nothing but lap dogs for Murder Inc. (the Obama administration). While the Hicks testimony, more damning that Watergate, was playing live on C-Span, the Communist News Network, under former CIA operative, Anderson Cooper, was silent on the issue. Also, the globalist controlled media of ABC, NBC and CBS were mum as well. If there is a silver lining to this tragedy it shows why none of us should ever watch the corporate controlled presstitutes except to see what the enemy is up to"

The only thing that makes sense is if they were in fact running guns to AQ affiliates in Syria. He was a lose end.

I don't subscribe to this theory of "a hit" as there are plenty of people that would know what he knew as well, up & down the food chain/command structure. I think everyone knows my lack of respect for O'Barry & Hitlary, I'd love to nail em to the wall on something like that...but I don't think so.

More than likely its just what it is as we know so far...bloated, bureaucratic, incompetence. Other nations had already moved out their staff or increased security, throughout Libya, which is what is coming out now...they were asking for more security and were refused...plus they farmed out "guards" to the locals.

Then when TSHTF they froze. The big question is where was "our" Commander in Chief that night, apparently sleeping, while Americans were being slaughtered.

Bread and dark chocolate are up over 100%...gold up over 100% from it's $700/oz level.....silver used to be about $10/oz....even a can of sardines is up over 100%....Anyone who does not see this is blind.

Other things that were already overpriced (like housesand clothes) are plunging but have levelled off a little for awhile at last before they continue their correction downward.

lasvegaspersona "Truth is that fiat works fine as a medium of exchange. Who holds cash over the long haul? So what if the few $$$ in your safe loose 2% a year?

The problems start when we hold fiat (and derivatives) as a store of value. That forces us to earn a return..or try to...to keep up with inflation. The big lie is that the dollar is as good as gold. It is not."

Comment

Very few people actually hold derivatives or even trade derivatives as a measure of the population.

And since you stated: "Truth is that fiat works fine as a medium of exchange. Who holds cash over the long haul? So what if the few $$$ in your safe loose 2% a year?",.

You have taken fiat out of the equation. In a way I disagree. The FRB has created an illusion of stability of the fiat currency system by keeping interest rates artificially low and additionally buying debt of at least $85 billion a month. When this mirage ends, and we have all been waiting and speculating on this ending, it will be horrible.

Quite frankly, this thread is misleading. Just yesterday (5-09-2013), a thread was posted about the rising dollar and the falling of commodities.

Sometimes when I come here lately, I feel like I am on Yahoo News which often has articles that contradict each other.

Deflation is the problem. Can you tell me why after trillions of money has been printed, why prices aren't much higher?

Do you recognize that there are trillions in debt that offset what is being printed?

Do you know that in a deflationary period such as after 1929, many people expected inflation (because of massive printing), but were wrong and they saw declining commodity prices and a rising dollar?

Until the dollar is dead, it is still the way debts are resolved. I have said this for over a year now on ZH. Holding some PMs is still a good thing because eventually the dollar will collapse and you want PMs for the breif time of turmoil.

It's funny when I get down arrows from PM bugs even though I hold some PMs. But history has shown that in a deflationary environment, most commodities including PMs go down as people and nations need to raise cash (US Dollar currency reserve) to settle debt obligations.

Another thread suggested the dollar rise was the result of margin calls. That is the same thing.

I would suggest at least 3 months of fiat and PMs stored for a time of turmoil. And don't forget your food, gun and ammo storage.

Keep some of it in smaller bills. All I had were 100's and one of the web sites I read, Canada Free Press with Doug Hagmann mentioned that some smaller bills were a good idea. I had not thought about it. Next trip to the bank I cashed a 7K check and ask the teller to give it in 10's and 20's. Here eyes got big and she ALL OF IT, yes mam, please

He should count himself as one of the luckiest bastards of all time. Once, in this country, those who debased the money were executed; now, they get the bearded lady, Paul Krugman, to lick their sacks.

If....and it is a giant if...the fed exited QE....and this is just my insanity...I would short any High yield bond I could find, and and MBS I could find. I would actually go long treasuries as money all over the planet would still stupidly decide safety is in UST's.

I'd short the shit out of the aussie dollar as gold would crash hard. I would take every single dollar I had from those gains, if I had any, and buy as much real assets as I could find. Because the subsequent crash in equities would end up in QE7 being unleashed. At that point I expect a worldwide treasury dump and game over.

Seems plausible. Some of these equities with extreme PE's are attractive from a short perspective. (see below). I'm also considering FOSL which is not an extreme PE but to me looks like when it breaks down it really breaks down.

I agree with much of what you are saying. I think the Fed sees the gold shortage as the major issue they have to deal with directly. Delivery of gold to individuals is causing the banks lots of headaches. Therefore lesser amounts of QE can and will take the pressure off of the gold price. All commodities got absolutely slammed today. I think someone knows whats about to come down from the Fed.

I hope you did not think I was calling you out. I just know you trade quite a bit and I value your opinion. I'm looking for shorts of some equities that have bloated PE's or no earnings at all. TSLA, LNKD, AMZN are on my radar along with some others. What do you think?

I will also say that I see many of these same firms buying their own stock with buybacks and essentially creating the earnings per share beat from these buybacks. When the market doesn't continue higher guess what all of a sudden happens to these EPS estimates.

I work in a global capital equipment business and signs are decidedly mixed at the moment. Solid equipment sales and movement in the pipeline toward more - activity in all major markets around the world is greater than or equal to last year. Also executive recruiting activity has shot up noticeably in the recent weeks. Finally, the dollar euro cross is roughly equal year over year in its impact YTD so no significant difference from FOREX for 2/3 +/- of the world economy from this influence. (yet)

The US shut itself out of a good amount of International Trade by NOT adopting the metric system. While most of the world transitioned to the metric system and all that entils - Electrical standards, mechanical one s and all else, the US clung to English measurements. The astounding growth in the developing world was fueled by goods bought elsewhere to metric standards. The US has finally caught on - albeit on a less visible scale. Anyone working on cars hasd had to deal with metric fasterners for decades - too many parts are made overseas or FOr overseas.

You're funny. At most, if you could extract enough barrels to supply the US every day consumption (you can't, not by a long shot), the Balkin Reserves would last what... 3 years at most... What ya do after that, Willis?

But but but! Dollar index is at multi years high! That must mean that the US dollar is number ONE! What do you mean the index only means what it's worth compared to other currencies and not what the purchasing power really is?? Impossibru!

kinda dumb-you can buy more of just aout every commodity there is now with the same dollar than you could have 2-3 years ago. on the retail side, tvs, clothing even food in many cases are lower in dollar terms. despite 4 years of creating dollars out of thin air the currency is worth more now on a trade weighted basis than in 2008. so what happens when the fed starts to slow the flow? could be at a major inflection point on a longer term basis

I didn't go because all women are God's children but my brother went to a strip club and said he got change in 2 dollar bills as the 2 dollar bill is the new 1 dollar bill in strip clubs. 100% inflation.

HFT micro-second slices of liquidity is not investment. Picture this, a 3-year development and certification program needs to occur, but with HFTs experimenting with bids on a daily basis (a million times per). I see IPOs are really setting for new levels of activity - not.

The economy will not take off like a rocket if highly levered, or if the banks are trading insolvent and Govt near defaulting, and taxes and spending thus a major issue. The economy will instead drag its sorry ass around for another 10 years - if all goes better than is reasonable. Maybe if energy were cheap and abundant you could get the economy and small business to look interested in a sudden aggregate demand upturn. But QE and Keynesianism is not doing it.

All the inflation numbers are fudged. Real US inflation is at least 3% higher than the official number. This massaged inflation has the beneficial effect of increasing the GDP. But the dollar has shrunk a lot more than the officially acknowledged shrinkage. One of the tricks used by the US BLS is hedonic adjustments.

The US uses hedonic adjustments to its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and with you can massage data to produce whatever outcome you desire. For example, if computer speeds increase 50% a year, and the computer price stays the same, the US assumes that you are getting 50% more computer for your money. So even if the sales of computers remain the same in dollar terms, the GDP portion of computers has gone by 50%, And inflation rate for computers is -33%. Such is the miracle of hedonic adjustments.

This hedonic adjustment is applied to everything produced in the US economy. If prices go up for cars by say 10%, the US can assume that 7% of that increase was caused by quality improvements and the real inflation is only 3%. From 1967 to 1999, the price of a car in the US increased by 6.42 times. But the US BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) reported an increase of 2.83 times. So 56% of the increase in the price of a car was hedonically adjusted away.

These adjustments are far more egregious for computers and they contribute to at least 25% of the growth of the GDP. As a rule of thumb, US inflation is understated by about 4%. So US growth is overstated by 4%. So instead of 0.4% growth in the last quarter of 2012, the economy was shrinking at 3.6%.

If you correct the US economy for these adjustments over the last 10 years, US GDP is only about $10 trillion instead of the conventionally assumed $15.5 trillion now. And the economy is now in recession, shrinking instead of growing at rates that makes Europe envious of the miracle of US growth. In July, USA GDP will grow by $500 billion because $500 billion of intangibles will be added to the US GDP.

There are damned lies, statistics and statistics generated by the US BLS. But everyone seems to report US economic numbers as if they were gospel. The truth is so hideous that it must be protected by a phalanx of adjustments.

Politicians learned from Carter's experience. No point in being honest with US voters. Easier to lie to them. GDP, Inflation and Unemployment are all bogus.

REAL unemployment - by 1980 standards is 24% - past 1932's peak. The only reason you're not seeing bread lines is the massive spending on unemployment, food stamps and all else by government. But even with all that you're seeing food banks running out and places giving free meals having long lines. It's bad but a lot harder to see these days.

3 boxes 50rd 115gr FMJ 9mm's 13.97 a box. I think I just scored some PB at the local Walmart. She said they came in this morning,,,, 50 boxes,,, 3 box max, there were 4 boxes left when I left the store at 1PM today. I feel better. Stack, lock, load. Not ever required to be in that order either. Great weekend all.

My father was making $6000 a year in 1948 when he got married. My grandparents bought a house for $12,000 the next year. My parents bought the same house for $28,000 in 1968, not quite 20 years later. I was high salary for my engineering degree in 1978 at $21,000 - that'd be almost three times higher today (you couldn't hire a receptionist for that today). And that crap house that was $12,000 in 1948 sold for well over $500,000 fifty five years later. Looking only at the dollar figures you'd thingk everyine has gotten really rich.... when the reality is people's buying power has been dropping for 30-40 years.

Used to be that you were doing really well if earning 10 times your age. Now, it's ok but not outstanding.

The quantity of dollars being produced has far outpaced the fall in value but the real problem is that the distribution of those additional dollars has been increasingly going to the top end. The problem for the little people is made even worse bythe fact tht Ben pas them nothing for thir meagre savings.

I went through the Taco Bell drive through today here in Silicon Valley. The person working the window was a slim, very attractive, well-spoken white woman in her mid-fifties. That was f***ing terrifying. Somehow I bet her part-time eight dollars per hour aren't going very far.

A dollar may not buy as much as it used to, but an EBT card sure buys a hell of a lot more.

Why am I working a real job instead of a minimum wage cake walk?

I could save $480 a month on health insurance
$150 a month on utilities
$100 on TV and internet, online school for the kid
$60 for a cell phone
Get at least $200 towards food
Probably get to rent my house for $250 a month, low income subsidized, saves me $900 a month.

There's about $20 grand in savings right there. The great thing is I can make $20k and still keep all the benefits. All that is fun money since I'll pay no taxes and all the other stuff is covered.

THANKS OBAMA AND BEN!!!!!

And they wonder why unemployment is falling. Why work when you can have far more by not working.

Precisely why Obammy got back in. All the 'lunch for nothing' crowd voting for the goodies. Only its your lunch they got, along with a good portion of your wages in the form of income tax. Aint life great!